


Terra Cruentus: Blood & Betrayal

by EveryDayIsHalloweenForMe



Series: Halloween Horror Nights Reader-Insert Adventures [4]
Category: Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios
Genre: Blood and Gore, Dark Fantasy, F/M, Gen, Gothic, Human Sacrifice, Multi, Other, POV Female Character, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:34:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23733151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveryDayIsHalloweenForMe/pseuds/EveryDayIsHalloweenForMe
Summary: Female! Reader Insert - Set in 2005.After wandering into The Storyteller's Dungeon of Terror, you get sucked into an evil book and awaken within the realm of Terra Cruentus - a land ruled by The Terra Queen, a dark realm shrouded in myths, comprising of both Middle-earthian and modern mythos. Now inside of The Storyteller's Tale, there is no way out alive...unless you manage to change the story.
Series: Halloween Horror Nights Reader-Insert Adventures [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/351071
Kudos: 1





	1. The Book

**Author's Note:**

> This story is best read if you copy and paste it into Microsoft Word or a similar document writing software and replace/edit the words below.
> 
> Enjoy your adventure!
> 
> (Y/N) replace with your first name.  
> (L/N) replace with your last name.  
> (H/C) replace with your hair color.  
> (H/L) replace with your hair length.  
> (E/C) replace with your eye color.  
> (S/T) replace with your skin tone.
> 
> ~*~
> 
> Prologue:  
> It was a hot late September day in Georgia as my friends and I drove along the highway. Sunglasses on, windows down, and the radio playing our favorite tunes loudly as the wind blew through our hair. Laughter and empty soda cans filled the car as we pressed on our way towards our girls' trip theme park destination , that is until...
> 
> "Shit. Guys, we're running low on gas." Lizzie moaned from the drivers seat.
> 
> "What? Already?", Robin was shocked.
> 
> "Yeah, we're gonna have to pull off and fill 'er up at the next exit."
> 
> "It's your turn to pay, Rob." I added from the backseat with Kim.
> 
> "How much did you put in the tank last time, (y/n)? Two dollars?!" Robin sassed crossing her arms.
> 
> "Hey, I can't help it Lizzie's car is a gas guzzler! You don't see me complaining about paying my way!" I sassed right back with a grin.
> 
> "Robin's just moody because she's been saving up her money for souvenirs." Kim laughed, taking a sip of her ginger ale.
> 
> "So have I, and I've paid for gas the most on the trip so far." I replied.
> 
> "Oh my god, shut up!" Lizzie laughed in a roar, trying to de-escalate the conversation. "Here's an exit. I'll pay if it means that much to you!"
> 
> "No it's fine." Robin stated, her arms still crossed.
> 
> We got off the exit to find ourselves in a small little town. Eyeing a gas station Lizzie pulled over and we all crawled out of the car. Oh it felt so good to stretch my legs and walk around, getting out of that cramped back seat of the car was a silent blessing. I took in a nice deep breathe of fresh air as I looked around. The place was a sleepy little backwoods town, nothing of any real interest. I moved to turn around to look to the gas station behind me when my eyes caught it. The strangest sight, I wouldn't have expected to see in that moment. A giant eye staring at me. A painting on the wall of the building next door to the gas station, along with the peering eye there were green ghouls and blood droplets from the roof, all cartoonish in appearance. 
> 
> "Hey, (y/n) I'm going to the bathroom and grabbing some snacks. You wanna come too?" Kim asked, pulling out her backpack from the car to find some cash.
> 
> I turned over my shoulder to look to her, "Oh, nah. Thanks though, but I'm good."
> 
> "Suite yourself then. We're all going in." Lizzie chimed in, closing her door. Meanwhile Robin was already walking through the gas station door, preparing to pay for the gas.
> 
> They all went in and yet I stayed out by the car. Leaning against it, looking over the building next door. What sort of business must it be? Why did it have such gruesome ugly artwork all over it? Kinda made me think of halloween, what with how spooky the aesthetic of the place was. As I stay there, looking at the building, I knew it. Something within me pulled itself towards the building. Something inside of me knew I must go inside, I must investigate it and find out what it was. it might sound stupid or like a waste of time but it was as if I was possessed to come closer, something powerful inside beckoning me within it's walls.

The Dungeon of Terror - that's what the sign above the door read as I heaved open the dirty glass door, unintentionally making the little wooden open side swing back and forth against the glass. As I stepped inside a little black bell atop the door rang, alerting all to my presence. Inside was like some sort of macabre giftshop. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs and everything for sale looked like it belonged in a halloween store. It almost looked like a weird museum or something. Curio cabinets of wooden carved skulls, glass enclosures featuring beaded necklaces and glass eyeballs, shelves lined with odds and ends, and a dried monkey paw figurine sat on the counter. 

Movement came from behind a worn out old red velvet curtain behind the counter as an old woman stepped out. She wore a black dress with a white lace collar and an ivory crochet shawl over her shoulders. Her hair was grey and up in a bun as glasses rested on her nose. Her eyes were dark and sunken in, her skin wrinkled and aged.

"Good afternoon, my child. And how might I be of service today?" she asked, her voice much like any other granny.

"Oh, hello." I replied, unsure of what to do and honestly surprised at the fact that I was where I was and talking to the stranger I was talking to. "Um, I was just wondering what this place is? Like is it a gift shop or something?"

"Hm, you could say that." she answered simply.

"Why is it called The Dungeon of Terror?" I asked.

"Oh that was the name of the business here before. I've recently bought the place and well, as you can see it still needs quite a bit of work to get this old mess back in order." she explained.

"Oh, so what's the new name then?"

"It'll still be The Dungeon of Terror, just under new ownership. Me."

"Oh."

"Yes, it'll be quite the spiffy little halloween hot spot once I've gotten it how I like it. You know, no has has set foot in here since 1995."

"Wow, yeah that's been a while."

"Ten years, it's sat vacant. Unloved and neglected all that time. Forgotten about entirely..." she mused aloud looking over the odd displays.

I still didn't understand what the business was but a creeping feeling of unease was coming over me.

"I should probably get back to my friends now, they must be wondering where I've gotten off to." I began to excuse myself, stepping backwards towards the door.

"Oh, that's a shame, dear. I had hoped you might stay a little while longer and give this old lady some proper company." she smiled, something off about her expression.

"Yeah, well...maybe next time." I smiled, reaching for the door and pushing.

It didn't open. I pushed again harder. The door wouldn't budge. It was like it was locked, but that couldn't be - I had just entered through it and hadn't seen anyone go near it, let alone lock it.

"Oh fiddlesticks!" she let out in a huff, "That darn old door, always getting jammed!"

"Uh, does your door do this a lot?" I asked over my shoulder to her.

"Unfortunately yes. Don't you fret your pretty little head though, my dear. The back door never jams." she explained gently. "Right this way." she invited me through the velvet curtain after she picked up a large ring of keys, surely to use to unlock the back door.

My eyes scanned the place, eyeing the outside as the sunset began to loom over the earth, and then looking back again to that dusty red velvet curtain. Unease and dread filled me, a voice inside of me regretting everything about the situation, but I had no other choice.

"You coming, dear?" the old woman called from somewhere behind the curtain.

"I'm coming!" I answered, deciding to be brave and march through that curtain to whatever awaited on the other side.

It was a backroom, half full of storage but mostly full of bookshelves filled to the top with old books. It was more like a private library than a storage room. An arm chair and a rocking chair sat in the middle of the floor on an ovular oriental rug as an antique radio sat playing an old song quietly ontop a lace covered side table between the two chairs. A multicolored stained glass floor lamp sat nearby filling the room with a warm glow.

"Woah, are these all yours or did they come with the place?" I asked as I took in the sight.

"The books? Oh they're mine, love. I'm quite the little book worm." she chuckled, leading me forward into the room.

"I love Jane Austen's work." I smiled glancing over the extensive library of vintage hardcover books, hoping to catch sight of one I knew.

"Mh, she's good but a bit to sweet for me. I prefer books with a more savory flavor to them." she replied.

What was that supposed to mean? I opened my mouth to reply when suddenly a loud thump pulled my attention as I quickly turned to look to the culprit of the sound. A book. A large hard covered leather bound book, lay on the floor nearby my foot.

"What the...?" I questioned aloud looking down at it.

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly to me, her cold dark eyes intense now.

"How extraordinary." she commented in a whisper.

"That's so weird, it's like it threw itself off the shelf." I attempted to laugh it off as I bent down to pick it up for her, kinda feeling bad that the brittle old book may have gotten damaged in it's fall.

"Dearie, would you...oh no, nevermind."

"What?" I asked, holding the book in my hand.

"Just forget I said anything." she tried to backtrack, though something seemed to pull me to push her for more.

"No really, what is it?"

"Well...would you, per chance, entertain me a moment longer by opening that book?" she asked, stepping closer to me.

Without even replying, as if by instinct I had been allowed to open the book and I did with a calm eagerness.

"I love a good story..." she spoke through a sadistic grin.


	2. Thorns

My eyes fluttered open, unsure of what had happened prior to this very moment, as blinding light stinging my eye soon focused into a sky above me. I could barely open my eyes any wider from the discomfort the brightness brought me, but something was wrong. Very wrong. Why was the sky red? My vision was acting up. Pushing myself to sit up, my body was sore all over as I soon realized that I was surrounded by thorns.

"What the...?" I let out to myself as my words trailed off, now noticing that my vision hadn't been wrong before. 

The thorns were an average dark brown color, the earth beneath me was seemingly normal, the only strange thing of note was the blood red skies above me. It hadn't been a mistake, the sky was really actually red. I looked around the thorn field to see if anyone was around. My memory hazey and beginning to come back to me.

My friends. Kim, Lizzie, and Robin - I needed to get back to them. Only...where were they? I pushed myself to my feet, continuing to look around the strange outdoor area.

"Hello...?!" I called out into the fields of thorns and twisting wooden vines.

No answer came.

I decided to try my best to getting out of this patch of thorns, but I couldn't help but knick myself more than a few times. Scratches and slices covered my arms and legs, the stinging pain forced me to grit my teeth and groan at each new slash across my flesh. All the while, I was none the closer to escaping the thorny field around me.

"Ugh, this is impossible." I complained to myself, taking a break for a moment in a relatively empty spot. "Hello!!?" I called out again, really raising my voice now in desperation. It all felt hopeless. I had no idea where I was, how I'd gotten here, how to get back, and where my friends even were. No one was around, I could already tell from before but...damn it, I had to try something.

"Who's there?" I voice called back.

My eyes snapped open wide as I looked up, the sound of another person instantly filling me with hope again. "Oh my god, thank god! Help, I'm stuck in these thorns!"

"In the name of the queen, who speaks to me?" the voice answered back, more demanding now.

Name of the queen? What in the world? Oh that's just rich, in all the world I get some schizo to help me.

"My name is (y/n) and I'm lost. My friends are looking for me. I'm stuck in these thorns and really getting scratched up, can't you please help?" I replied back, pleading.

A moment of silence followed.

"Hello?" I called out into the silence, "Are you still there?!"

Still nothing.

"Oh please don't leave, I don't know how to get out of here!" I yelled over the tall thorns.

Then suddenly a grisly face peered at me through the sharp thicket, an inhuman creature that looked diabolical on a good day, it's eyes big and leering at me. I let out a yelp and jumped back at the surprise of the sight, jabbing myself with another thorn in my shoulder.

"And why should I help you, aye? What good would it do me?" the creature asked with a judgmental raised brow.

"I'm sorry." was all I could think to say as I stood frozen in fear at the sight of the unnatural being before me.

"You'll be more sorry for wasting my time!" the thing growled as it's clawed fingers unsheathed a long jagged though sharp dagger from it's belt.

I raised my hands up in front of myself in an attempt to block as I desperately tried to coax myself to think on my feet, "No, wait! I'll...um, I'll give you something in return for helping me!"

The creature stopped short, and slowly lowered the dagger into a more casual stance. "And what'll you give me in return, small one?"

"Um, I...well, I don't really have any money on me but I can pay you when I get back to the car." I tried to explain.

"Mun-ee? What the hell is a mun-ee?"

"Money, um you know cash?"

"Casks?! You've got a cask, have you?" it grinned excitedly.

"No no, not cask. Cash." I corrected, getting increasingly confused at this entire interaction.

"Cash? Mun-ee and cashh and kars, bah! I know not what those are and they please me not anyhow!" the creature growled again.

"Well what do you want?" I feared to ask, yet the words leaked from my mouth in frustration.

"Berries."

"Berries?"

"Yes yes, the bloodberries. Give me berries and I will get you out of the thorn thickets." it smirked.

"Bloodberries? I don't have any of those...I'm not even sure what they are." I confessed, my brain trying to reason they meant blackberries but calling them by a different slang term but I wasn't sure.

The creature raised the dagger again, preparing to slash at me. "Wait wait wait, uh how about this?" I asked pointing to the bracelet on my wrist. It wasn't much, just a beaded jade bracelet my friends and I had spotted beside the cash register at some store in the mall and added a matching set to our bags for an extra dollar each.

The thing stopped again and eyed the beads on my wrist, examining them with yellow eyes. "Hm, what are they?"

"Jade. They're supposed to attract fortune or good luck to the wearer, or something like that." I answered, in fear for my life.

"So they're enchanted?" the being asked, it's expression turning significantly less hostile as it's desire for the bracelet grew.

"Um, yeah." I lied, trying not to piss it off anymore than I already had.

"It's a magical wristlet? Instilled with arcane powers to bring the wearer luck and fortunes?" the creature questioned, growing excited.

"And it's all yours if you get me out of these thorns." I nodded.

The creature began to reach for the bracelet to snatch it from me but I pulled back and covered it with my other hand, "Hey, come on now, we've made a fair deal!" I argued.

"Mmm, fine." it finally answered in a gruff voice before turning around, "Follow me. This way."

We were soon moving through the thicket, hunching over in some spots and stepping over others, moving much faster than I had before.

"What is this place anyway?" I questioned as I followed uneasily.

"The Thorn Thickets of North Hollow. Not many tread here, mostly because they believe it to be a barren thorn field. The fools! Little do they know what one might find within these fields of sharp thicket..."

"What's that?"

The creature didn't answer as we continued walking.

"Is it those berries you were talking about?" I thought aloud in the form of a question, not thinking.

"I knew it, you're a spy!" the creature roared as it turned around to me holding the dagger to my throat.

"No! No, I'm not a spy! I swear to god!" I pled.

"You're here looking for the bloodberries, you know the secret. Who sent you? Mavis? Murdock?....Severin?" the creature interrogated me.

"I don't know who any of those people are, honest! I don't even know what bloodberries are!" I desperately tried to explain.

"Bah, lies!"

"No honest, I swear!"

"How could one possibly live in Terra Cruentus and not know of bloodberries! The blasphemy! How stupid do you think I am?" the thing scowled.

"But I don't live in Terra Cruella whatever, I don't even know where I am! I don't even know how I got here for that matter!" I begged, the knife pressing deeper against my neck, threatening to cut my skin.

"Oh yeah? Then where are you from, huh? The Land of Ozymodeous?" the creature scoffed.

"I'm from Carey, Ohio!"

"Curry uh-hoo-ha? What tongue are you speaking now, worm?"

"Carey, Ohio! It's a town in Ohio, it's where I'm from. I was traveling to Orlando, Florida with my friends for a vacation when we stopped for gas. There was some roadside attraction, some creepy store or something. When I went in there was this book, I opened it and woke up here in the thorns. I swear to you, I'm telling the truth! I know it sounds crazy but it's what really happened!" I unloaded, honestly releasing the thoughts verbally as they flooded my mind.

The creature studied me in the eyes for a long and stressful moment, before finally speaking again.

"Show me your ears." it demanded.

"What?" I was taken off guard.

"Your ears, now!" the creature pushed my hair behind my ears and looked to them. It's eyes grew wide as it dropped it's dagger and stepped back from me with a gasp.

"What?!" I asked frightened at the sudden reaction.

"Y-you're a human!" it raised it's taloned finger and pointed at me, as if I were the monster.

"Of course I'm human, what did you think I was?"

"You speak the truth! You are not from here." the thing realized aloud.

"No I'm not, and I'd like very much to get back to my friends and put this entire weird experience behind me."

"You...you are a human." the creature held it's temples as it thought aloud, in awe of the situation. "Humans have been extinct for fifteen years. There's no such thing anymore. How could it be? How could you stand before me, here and now? It makes no sense."

"Ok, listen. I don't know what sort of stuff you're into with your halloween get up, I don't know if you're larping or whatever but I'm serious right now. I really need to get back to my friends."

"There is no Carey, Ohio here. You're from a different world! It's happening again." the creature started to hyperventilate.

"Are you alright?" I questioned, growing concerned the thing was about to have a heart attack.

"The sacrifices...The Queen...it's time again. Fifteen years and now another human is brought before us, before me! Oh thank the gods!" it continued to rant aloud.

"Wait did you just say something about sacrifices?"

"Humans are a rarity in this world. Once they existed among our own but they had an unfair advantage the rest of us still don't have. Your magical abilities out weigh our own, you and your kind garner the attention of the gods with little effort - a stain on our existence and yet such a powerful tool to our world. Adaru, our patron god of fear, worshiped by our beloved queen, was swayed towards you and your perfect little privileged parasitic race! The humans! Adaru chose Harolds for his unholy work from your race and yours alone, repeating the process for millennia as he still does to this day. Choosing humans over any of us, though we still honor him and remember him, unlike your kind!" the creature snarled, "That is why you all make such wonderful sacrifices to him at the Gorewood Tree! The queen will pay a hefty reward for any who bring a human to her for the ritual, and you will do handsomely!"

With that the creature lunged at me with a feral fury, in fear for my life and without hesitation I bent down and grabbed the dagger. Holding the blade infront of me I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the agony to come when suddenly a groan in pain echoed through the vines. I opened my eyes and I had somehow managed to impale the creature through the chest, it's blood black and thick like syrup as it leaked onto the dirt below. It's eyes rolled back as it collapsed fully on the blade, releasing it's last breath before fading into death. I let go of it and the body and dagger fell to the ground with a thump.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god - I killed it! I shook, freaking out over what had just happened. It was dead, I was guilty of murder! Guilt overwhelmed me as I slunk down to the dirt floor and sat looking over the corpse in shock.

"I'm in a different world?" I questioned aloud, within the thorn thickets of Terra Cruentus.

**Author's Note:**

> Authors Note: The title for this work is a working title, meaning I'm probably gonna change it to a snappier title once I think of one.
> 
> Please leave me a comment of what you all think of the story so far! :)


End file.
